Nicholas Gleaves

Gleaves's first theatre part was as an extra in Don Carlos at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. He did several plays there including the lead in Macbeth. When interviewed about this play, he said he never had the superstition that surrounded it, "...all that spitting and spinning round — it all seems like quite hard work".

He has been in many television shows since 1992; Gleaves was Rick Powell in the television drama series Playing the Field. He had the role of Ray Fairburn in Conviction. Conviction was filmed at Salford Lads' Club which delighted Gleaves because of the building's connection to The Smiths. In The Chase, he was the father Tom Bedford. In 2009, he said the idea for Survivors, in which he played the scientist Whitaker, was "great". He played DS Andy Roper in the first two series of Scott & Bailey. Of this role, he said, "I've done quite a few cop shows and as much as I enjoy testosterone, shouting at villains and all that, I really fell in love with this. As soon as I read it I saw something new and original. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to be involved because it was so different and very believable."

In 2019, Gleaves played the title role in the 2019 revival of the classic CBBC series The Demon Headmaster.

Gleaves has also started to write shows for radio.